Google blocks Truth Social in accordance with its own Play Store guidelines. The question of why Apple hasn’t taken similar action over the iOS version of the app, which has been available on the App Store since February, is raised by Google’s decision to prevent the launch of the Truth Social app on the Play Store due to content moderation issues.
We’ve covered how Trump launched a new social media platform called Truth Social. Now, Axios reported that Google discovered multiple posts that were in violation of its Play Store content regulations, preventing the app from becoming available on its platform. However, some of these same post kinds seem to be accessible on the iOS app, according to TechCrunch.
Google blocks Truth Social
Given that both Apple’s and Google’s standards are broadly congruent in terms of how apps containing user-generated material must filter their content, this could eventually lead to a re-review of Truth Social’s iOS app.
“Having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Following an interview with the CEO of the app, Devin Nunes, Axios was the first outlet to announce this week that Google has decided to prevent the distribution of the Truth Social app on its platform. The current CEO of social media, a former congressman and member of Trump’s transition team, implied that Google was to blame for the delay in the app’s Android release, stating, “We’re waiting on them to approve us, and I don’t know what’s taking so long.”
But Google claimed that this was an inaccurate portrayal of the circumstances. Truth Social was notified by Google on August 19 that its most recent Play Store submission contained numerous policy breaches. The company stated that Google also provided Truth Social with information on how to resolve those issues in order to be accepted into the Play Store.
A Google spokeswoman said, “Last week, Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues.” This exchange of information took place a week before Nunes’ interview, in which he suggested that Google was now in the driver’s seat. (Of course, the underlying message of his remarks was that Big Tech was once again censoring conservative journalism.)
Truth Social, according to Trump Media and Technology Group, is a lively community that welcomes families. The company said that it has “has continuously worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android App complies with Google’s policies without compromising our promise to be a haven for free speech.”
Google’s guidelines for apps that use user-generated material, or UGC, are the root of the current problem. Such apps are required to employ “robust, effective and ongoing UGC moderation, as is reasonable and consistent with the type of UGC hosted by the app,” according to this policy. However, Truth Social’s moderating is weak.
The business has made it known that it uses Hive, an automatic AI moderation system, to find and remove content that contravenes its own regulations. Truth Social uses what appears to be an industry-standard combination of AI and human moderating, noting on its website that human moderators “oversee” the moderation process.
The usage of AI-powered moderation by Truth Social does not imply that the system is adequate to put the platform in line with Google’s own rules. The effectiveness of AI-detection systems varies, and in the end, those systems enforce a set of regulations that a corporation chooses to put in place. Google claims that numerous Truth Social posts it came across featured explicit physical threats and calls for violence, which are prohibited by Play Store rules.
